Is Everything You Thought About Jews Being "CHOSEN" Wrong?

[00:00:00]You often hear that Jewish people are the chosen people, but did you ever stop to ask chosen for what? When people hear Jews calling ourselves the chosen people, it instantly upsets them or makes them feel uncomfortable. Some hear it and assume that Jews believe they are superior to everyone else. Others hear it and assume it means Jews think God loves them more than he loves other people. Most folks see it as a form of spiritual elitism. I understand why people come to those conclusions. If I heard any group described itself as chosen, I might assume the same thing.

[00:00:35]But what if the phrase means almost the opposite of what people think it means?

[00:00:41]Hear me out. What if being chosen does not mean being chosen for any extra privileges or any extra love from God?

[00:00:48]What if it simply means being chosen to bear a greater responsibility?

[00:00:53]What if it means chosen to carry a burden rather than being chosen to receive a reward of sorts? The older I get, the more I think that this is what it truly means when Jews talk about being chosen. I'm going to explain this in the simplest way I can, but before I do, just know that there is a little caveat to this whole analysis, so stick around until the end to understand the little wrinkle in all of this. You see, in God's eyes, I believe that Jews are not chosen to be above others, rather they're chosen to preserve a set of values. They're chosen to hold a torch that has been passed down through generations by God to Abraham and through all of his descendants. And like most responsibilities, that responsibility is often heavy. You see, God gave his word to Abraham. He shared his value system, and Moses also helped transcribe the Torah, which was also God's word, and he gave the oral tradition, which was later shared through all these different commentary by different rabbis along the centuries that came thereafter. But God essentially said, "Because I gave this knowledge base, I gave this wisdom to Abraham. I now expect that Abraham will have his descendants safeguard that and keep that for the benefit of civilization as a whole. The best way to understand this is the same way you understand a family. Imagine a parent with several children. A loving parent does not love one child more than the others. A good parent does not assign greater worth to one child and lesser worth to another. Each child possesses the same inherent value. Each child is equally loved, each child matters, but parents often expect different things from different children. The oldest child is frequently given responsibilities that the younger children do not have. The oldest might be expected to help set an example. The oldest might be expected to watch over the younger siblings and look after them, protect them. The oldest might be expected to show maturity earlier and to stop engaging in childlike behavior earlier. The oldest might be expected to know better. If a five-year-old and a 10-year-old make the same mistake, most parents react differently to each of them. Not because they love the 10-year-old more, not because they love the five-year-old more, but because the 10-year-old knows more and should know better. The 10-year-old has been taught more. The 10-year-old has greater understanding. Therefore, the 10-year-old carries greater responsibility. The higher standard is not evidence of favoritism. In many ways, I think this analogy helps better explain the covenant between God and the Jewish people. It was not simply to enjoy any special status. It was to preserve a moral framework and carry it through history. The covenant created obligations, lots of them. Judaism does not teach that Jews have fewer responsibilities than everyone else. In fact, it teaches exactly the opposite.

[00:03:41]Traditional Judaism contains 613 mitzvot, which are commandments and obligations governing every aspect of life. How one eats, how one rests, how one treats others, how one conducts themselves in business, how one approaches family, how one approaches God, how you approach the community.

[00:03:59]Whether one follows all of these commandments is a separate question, but the existence of those obligations tells us something important because these obligations only exist on Jews. They specifically do not exist for non-Jews.

[00:04:13]The covenant is not primarily a collection of privileges. It is a collection of duties. In fact, Judaism does not teach that everyone must become Jewish. This is one of the reasons Jews historically have not actively sought to convert people. We are specifically a non-proselytizing religion. Many religions believe that joining their faith is necessary for the soul's salvation. Judaism generally does not believe that you have to be Jewish to ultimately merit the afterlife.

[00:04:40]Traditional Jewish teachings hold that righteous non-Jews have a place in the world to come or in the afterlife or whatever version of that you want to believe in. A person does not need to become Jewish in order to be loved by God. And a person does not need to become Jewish in order to live a meaningful and moral life. In fact, the Jewish tradition teaches that all of humanity descends from Noah after the flood and that all humanity is therefore bound by a universal framework often referred to as the Noahide laws. The details can be debated, but the larger principle is important. Judaism does not divide humanity into people whom God loves and people whom God does not love.

[00:05:15]It divides humanity into different categories of responsibility. Jews carry one set of 613 of them to be exact, but the non-Jew carries another. And that's a lesser burden. The Noahide laws are only 10 laws as compared to the 613 that Jews have to fulfill in their lifetime. The 10 that non-Jews have to fulfill merit them the exact same afterlife that I as a Jew need to perform 613 in order to get into that same afterlife. So, So, anything, it puts me at a disadvantage to be chosen. But, both groups can live righteous lives, both can serve God, both possess dignity, both matter. Seen through this lens, being chosen begins to look less like winning a prize and more like accepting an assignment that you don't really have the choice to accept because if you're born Jewish, you can't choose not to be Jewish. Like, the responsibility follows you even if you say you're going to be a member of a different faith. Jews don't believe that Jews can convert away. Those responsibilities and duties follow you because God has chosen you, and who are you to choose otherwise? So, when you think about this as being chosen, it all of a sudden begins to resemble a big burden. History certainly suggests as much. If being chosen means being God's favorite, it is difficult to explain Jewish history. Jewish history is not a story of uninterrupted comfort. It is a story of constant exile, persecution, expulsion, pogroms, discrimination, massacres, the Holocaust, endless survival against impossible odds, again and again. Jews have found themselves carrying extraordinary burdens, again and again. They've found themselves judged by standards applied to no one else, constant double standards, again and again. They've found themselves under a microscope constantly. Sometimes that scrutiny has been fair, often it is not. Sometimes it has crossed into outright hatred and anti-Semitism. Yet, throughout it all, Jews maintained an unusual sense of obligation. Obligation for their own community, and obligation for the global community. Even when we do not get credit for the obligation we take on to preserve Western civilization, the obligation we take on to preserve freedoms and liberties for all. In the face of global extremist jihadist terror, we are constantly stepping in to protect civilization, and not just our own communities. We are also a community that has stepped up in the wake of earthquakes, in the wake of all different types of natural disasters, during the California fires, constantly sending aid, constantly sending technology to help assist and preserve humanity, preserve freedoms, preserve mankind. Even fighting the war in Gaza. Yeah, lives are lost and it's super, super tragic. And no Jew is happy to learn that the war that we must wage in order to defend ourselves is killing lives. We're all very saddened by it, okay? But at the same time, Jews are the only military in recorded history who has brought so much aid to their enemies to this level, it has never been done before. We've brought enough food into Gaza to feed every civilian 3,000 calories per day. That is how much aid we bring. We also fight with one arm tied behind our back specifically to preserve as many lives as humanly possible. For example, by warning our opposition in advance of a strike the exact area of where a strike is going to be so that we can help evacuate civilians. Yes, if you don't know that does happen constantly with flyers and pamphlets that are spread out over the skies by Israeli IDF airplanes. And those flyers are written in Arabic, you best believe. And then also we make phone calls in Arabic. There are so many measures taken. There's like a door knocking exercise where they drop things that will knock on the roof of buildings to help warn people that they need to leave. They create humanitarian corridors and humanitarian zones where people can go to be out of harm's way.

[00:09:04]There is just so much that Israel does to try to safeguard lives even when we're fighting in densely populated areas, even where our enemy has vowed to completely annihilate and destroy us and drive our community into the sea so that there's no Jews left in the land and all of Israel will be Arab because that's what from the river to the sea means, okay? There is so much hatred and venom against us and we always respond with a very measured level of force mixed with compassion, mixed with as much as we can to safeguard innocent civilian lives, which is a very impossible task to do.

[00:09:38]And yet, we're scrutinized and held to an insane standard by the global community. So, maybe we are chosen to do good in the face of evil even when we don't get the credit for doing that because we have to preserve a value system. And there are evil doers in the world who want to destroy that value system. So, they want to undermine Judaism and undermine Jews and make us out to look like the bad guys. And believe you me, the level of responsibility that comes with being chosen can be exhausting. Anyone who has ever carried responsibility knows this.

[00:10:09]Parents know it, leaders know it, teachers know it, soldiers know it.

[00:10:12]There are moments when responsibility feels unfair. Moments when you wish someone else would carry the burden.

[00:10:19]Moments when you wish you could simply walk away. Yet, responsibility remains.

[00:10:23]The obligation does not disappear because it becomes difficult. A parent cannot simply stop being a parent, a leader cannot simply stop leading when circumstances become challenging. Maybe they can, I guess, but it wouldn't be good for society, it wouldn't.

[00:10:36]And in Judaism, a Jew cannot stop being a Jew because then where will civilization be? According to traditional Judaism, a Jew who abandons Judaism always will remain a Jew. A Jew who stops believing remains a Jew. A Jew who converts to another religion remains a Jew in terms of Jewish status. You might be able to stick your head in the sand and pretend that you don't have that responsibility and that this isn't your role in life that has been chosen for you, but you cannot erase that relationship with God or that responsibility. The covenant remains.

[00:11:07]God's message is something like what a parent might say to an older child. I understand that you are tired. I understand that this responsibility is difficult. I understand that you sometimes wish someone else could carry this burden. But, you know what is right and you know what is true. And because you know, I expect more from you. That is not always a comforting message, but it is a meaningful one. It suggests that chosenness is not about superiority. It is about stewardship. It carries something forward that might otherwise be lost. In fact, did you know that the Jewish Talmud and Jewish teachings were one of the most influential things in the common law system that exists throughout so much of Western civilization. I was in law school in America studying principles that I had studied in Talmud in high school. And when the teacher posed a question saying, "Does anyone know where we learn these principles from?" I was the only one in the class who raised my hand, and when she called on me, I kind of sort of begrudgingly said, "The Talmud?" And she was like, "Yes, we learn this from the Talmud. We adopt these principles from the Talmud." There is so much of Western civilization, of civil liberties, of freedoms, basic principles that you have come to learn as human rights that come from Judaism, Jewish values, Jewish teachings. There is a reason that gay people are not thrown off of buildings in Israel, but they are thrown off of buildings in Gaza and in other extremist places in the Middle East. This is the only place that has a gay pride parade in all of the Middle East, even though Judaism doesn't condone being gay. We sure as heck don't murder you for it.

[00:12:41]Because there are basic value systems and principles that Jews live by to safeguard human life and to protect certain civil liberties. Ideas that today seem obvious were not always obvious. The belief that human beings possess inherent dignity or the belief that power should be restrained by morality, the belief that justice matters, truth matters, and human life possesses sacred value, the belief that every individual is created in the image of God. These ideas emerged from a specific religious tradition and eventually helped shape civilization far beyond the Jewish world. The Jewish people did not create every good idea, nor are they solely responsible for Western civilization, but Jews were among the earliest custodians of a moral vision that profoundly influenced Western civilization. In that sense, one could argue that the Jewish mission was never simply about Jews. It was about preserving something intended to benefit humanity. A lighthouse does not exist for itself. A lighthouse exists because ships need guidance. Its purpose is outward-facing. Its purpose is service.

[00:13:48]Its purpose is protection. Perhaps the Jewish mission is similar. Not to stand above humanity, but to serve it. Not to dominate, but to preserve mankind and our basic freedoms. I also think there is another important dimension to this conversation. If God chose the Jewish people for a particular responsibility, that does not necessarily mean he chose no one else for anything else. Human beings have a tendency to think in binaries. Either we are chosen or they are chosen. Either our role matters or their role does. Reality may be much more complicated because different people can have different missions.

[00:14:24]Different communities can contribute different strengths. As a Jew, I naturally see the Jewish mission through a Jewish lens. But I also recognize that many non-Jews have helped preserve the values that emerged from the biblical tradition. For example, many Christians view themselves as inheritors and defenders of a moral framework rooted in the Hebrew Bible.

[00:14:46]Whether one agrees with Christian theology or not, it is difficult to deny Christianity's historic role in spreading many biblical concepts throughout much of the Western world.

[00:14:56]Jesus himself was born Jewish. He lived as a Jew and he taught as a Jew. And I don't necessarily know if he himself would have sanctioned or agreed to this other faith being created in his name.

[00:15:06]But that being said, Christianity became one of the principal vehicles through which biblical ideas spread across continents and cultures. One does not have to accept every theological claim of Christianity to recognize that reality in terms of its contribution.

[00:15:20]So, while I don't really know if Jesus would have agreed to spread this religion in his name, I do believe that God chose to use Jesus as a vessel to help spread this message and his value system across the world, globally. So, it was part of God's design. But, you see, the family analogy still applies.

[00:15:37]Different children, different responsibilities, all with equal human value, equal dignity dignity, and equal worth. Every society depends upon inherent values. Every society depends upon people willing to preserve them.

[00:15:50]Every generation faces pressures that tempt it to forget what previous generations have already learned. The question is whether free societies possess enough confidence in their own principles to defend them. Whether they still believe truth exists, whether they still believe good and evil exists, and whether they still believe freedom is worth protecting. Those are not uniquely Jewish questions or values. They belong to all of us. But, you see, the one wrinkle in all of this is that the way I view chosenness might not be the same way that other Jews view being chosen.

[00:16:23]In fact, they might not have even stopped to think about or taken a second to understand what exactly does that mean. They just hear the phrase and parrot it over and over. So, I'm not saying that this is the definition given by Judaism. There is no definition given by Judaism for this concept. But, based on my teachings of Judaism and everything I know about Judaism and the way that Jews are meant to conduct themselves, this is my belief, and I think that it could be supported by a lot of scripture. And, if you are one of my Jewish brothers and sisters, just remember that responsibility is rarely glamorous, and duty is rarely easy.

[00:16:53]Being entrusted with something valuable often feels more like carrying a weight than receiving a gift. People hear the word chosen and imagine privilege. Many Jews hear the word chosen and think obligation. I think the word chosen isn't meant to lead to any form of arrogance. It's meant to lead to humility. The people of the Jewish faith were entrusted with a particular task. A task that often feels heavy and feels thankless. And sadly, or happily, cannot be abandoned. If you enjoyed this video, then you should be sure to hit that hype button down below because it helps out small channels like mine tremendously.

[00:17:26]And you should subscribe to my channel, and also watch this video over here next, which YouTube really thinks you're going to enjoy. I'll see you over there.